Following yesterday’s controversial defeat to Napoli, Lazio published a statement from the club’s Referee Analyst & Consultant, Marco Gabriele, on their website.
Gabriele echoed statements made last night by Biancocelesti boss Maurizio Sarri, who was furious with the refereeing display in his side’s 2-1 defeat to Luciano Spalletti’s men.
“To begin, I’ll state Napoli won a hard fought match yesterday so we congratulate their team,” began Gabriele.
“However, there are some concerning episodes from yesterday’s result surrounding the direction of the game. Let’s start with the decision not to award a penalty to Lazio after Lazzarri was elbowed in the area.”
“In instances such as this, VAR can assist in making a decision but the referee chose not to even go take a look on the monitor: if he did he would’ve seen a clear-as-day penalty.”
He continued, “What’s the point of technology if not to avoid oversights like this one? Moreover, Lazio suffered from an incomprehensible and one-way management of the bookings.”
“We received four yellow cards, three of which were concentrated within a few minutes of each other when the team was attempting to overturn the result.”
“The club continues and will continue to ask everyone for attention and uniformity in the decisions that are made on the pitch in order to protect the credibility of the season.”
